‘The midwife stole the baby and sold it at Tk 40,000'

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) rescued a baby from Gazipur after it was stolen a week ago from hospital and returned it to the parents on Thursday.

RAB's Additional Director General Ziaul Ahsan told bdnews24.com a midwife named Rasheda Khanam Parvin, 48, stole the baby on Aug 21.

Then she gave it to one Belly Aktar, alias Rahima, 45, in exchange for Tk 40,000. He said Rahima had agreed to buy the baby as she was childless.

RAB rescued the baby during a raid on Rahima’s house at Gazipur's Boardbazar Upazila around 3am on Thursday.

Both Rahima and Parvin have been arrested and are now in RAB's custody.

Runa Aktar, a resident at Dhaka’s Mohammadpur, gave birth to twin babies at DMCH on Aug 20.

Parvin stole one of the baby boys early in the morning the following day and fled from the hospital.

According to Runa’s mother Gul-e-Nur Begum, a woman was loitering around them as soon as the babies were brought back to the hospital ward.

When questioned, she said that her sister-in-law, too, was admitted there.

The next day, the woman offered help to calm one of the crying babies and fled with the newborn minutes later, said Begum.

The incident caused quite a furore that made the hospital authorities order an inquiry. A case was also lodged at Shahbagh Police Station.

According to a media report, none of the 53 CCTV cameras at the hospital were operating at the time of the theft.

The server that manages the CCTV network was shut for 12 hours since 9pm on Aug 20, while the baby went missing around 7:30am the next day, the report said.

The High Court, which took cognisance of the report, had also ordered a judicial probe into the incident.

A press briefing was held at Thursday noon at RAB headquarters at Uttara after the baby was rescued. There it was handed over to its parents.

Rahima and Parvin were presented before the press at the time, but they were not allowed to speak.

RAB spokesperson Mufti Mahmud Khan said Parvin had been working as a midwife at several clinics in Boardbazar for a long time and was well acquainted with the atmosphere of the DMCH too.

“We have found out that she has been stealing babies for quite sometime now and selling them.”

Primary interrogation revealed that Rahima contacted Parvin about eight months ago for a baby. After the deal, the latter stole the baby from DMCH on Aug 21.

Mahmud Khan said, “Parvin had gained the trust of Runa’s family by helping them to take care of the twins after they were born.”

RAB said they were investigating to find and arrest others involved in the baby theft.

“Rahima had told her husband that she was pregnant and was going to give birth to a baby very soon.

“She even rented another house away from him. After receiving the baby from Parvin, she went back to her husband and claimed it was their baby.”

The cheerful father Kawser Hossain and mother Runa Aktar heaped praise on the media after getting back their son.

Hossain said, “If the media had not reported it, my child would not have been rescued. I thank the government and the administration. They managed to rescue my son as the incident was reported in the media.

“So, I will raise my two sons in a way that they can become journalists,” said Hossain, drawing applause from RAB personnel and journalists.

When someone mentioned that it was RAB who rescued his baby, the father said: “I have thought about raising both of the sons to be journalist. But if you insist then one will be a RAB member when he grows up, the other a journalist.”

Runa said they have named one of the babies Yasin Hossain and the other Ekhlas Hossain.

‘Parents to blame’

Meanwhile, DMCH Director Mostafizur Rahman has blamed the ‘irresponsible’ parents for the newborn theft.

He told reporters, “At least 40 babies are born in this hospital every day. The mother is always asked to decide who will handle the baby. According to her wishes, babies are handed over to relatives.”

The baby, which was stolen a week ago, was handed over to its grandmother following that procedure, he said.

Rahman said it was ‘impossible’ that any DMCH staffer was involved in the theft.